Excerpt from The Republic, or a History of the United States of America in the Administrations, Vol. 7 of 18: From the Monarchic Colonial Days to the Present Times There appear among historians and biographers two quite opposite dispositions as to the birthplaces and parentage of heroes. With one class the character worthy of biographic distinction must be well born, with fine, consequential, old, and wealthy ancestry. With the other there is an equally determined effort to make the greatest possible display of a poor but honest parentage, and the wonder, admiration, and respect which should be attached to results so phe nomemal under circumstances so unlikely. Even among the most democratic of these writers nationality cuts no small figure. With an air of apology it may often be found said that General Jackson came of Irish parents, but who were themselves of Scottish origin, as if this were the way out of a social and physical misfortune. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.